The present invention relates generally to vehicular doors. More particularly, the invention relates to a gliding door assembly for a motor vehicle.
In various types of motor vehicles, including minivans, delivery vans, and the like, it has become common practice to provide the vehicle body with one or more relatively large side openings that are located immediately behind the front doors. The vehicle front doors may be attached to the vehicle with one or more conventional hinge-type mounts, which are occasionally used for the side doors as well. Numerous hinge-type door mount designs are known and may provide a reliable and relatively inexpensive strategy for mounting a vehicle door. These hinge-type door mounts, however, are associated with at least one drawback.
A major shortcoming of the conventional hinged hinge-type mounts pertains to clearance. As the hinged door is opened, it may swing through an arcuate pathway requiring a relatively large clearance space. Should the vehicle park in a confined space, it may easily sustain damage and/or impart damage as the door opens and closes. In fact, various strategies have been developed to minimize damage to a vehicle door imparted from other vehicles with hinged doors. As such, it would be desirable to provide a strategy for allowing a vehicle door to be opened with minimal clearance.
To overcome some of the shortcomings associated with the conventional hinge-type mounted door, numerous sliding door assembly designs have been developed. The sliding door is typically mounted on horizontal tracks on the vehicle body for guided sliding movement between a closed position flush with the vehicle body closing the side opening and an open position located outward of and alongside the vehicle body rearward of the side opening. The sliding door may be operated manually, as is most generally the case, or with a power operated system.
An example of a power sliding door for a motor vehicle includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,619 to Fukumoto et al. The ""619 patent discloses a sliding vehicle door system including three parallel rails disposed on the vehicle that each serve to guide a roller unit. The roller units are rotatably supported by a sliding door. During sliding movement of the guide roller units relative to or along the respective guide rails, the sliding door is guided by the guide rails and is thus slidably moved to effect the covering and uncovering operation of a door opening portion. The sliding vehicle door system further includes a driving mechanism installed in the sliding vehicle door for automatically opening the door.
The sliding door design, such as the one disclosed by the ""619 patent, has the advantage over the hinged-type design of opening with minimal clearance thereby reducing the likelihood of causing damage. However, the sliding door designs typically include a relatively large number of parts, both fixed and moving, and a complicated design, which together may increase the cost and failure rate of the assembly. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a strategy for reducing the number of parts and complexity associated with sliding door designs while maintaining its many advantages.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a strategy for providing a gliding door for a motor vehicle that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages.
A first aspect of the present invention provides a door assembly for a motor vehicle including an aperture formed therein. The door assembly includes a door moveable between a closed position substantially covering the aperture and an open position substantially clearing the aperture. At least one hinge assembly is provided including a substantially elongated lever with first and second pivots. The first pivot is operably attached to the door and the second pivot is operably attached to the vehicle. The lever and the first and second pivots provide an arcuate path movement of the door lengthwise of the vehicle.
A second aspect of the invention provides a motor vehicle including a body portion with at least one aperture formed therein. The motor vehicle further includes at least one door assembly including a door in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention.
A third aspect of the present invention provides a door assembly for a motor vehicle including an aperture formed therein. The door assembly includes means for moving a door between a closed position substantially covering the aperture and an open position substantially clearing the aperture. The door assembly further includes means for providing an arcuate path movement of the door lengthwise of the vehicle.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the invention, rather than limiting the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.